


Would You Be So Kind

by ThatOneAwkwardFangirl_Liz_Cecil



Series: it all works out in time [13]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Accidental Coming Out, Awkward Kageyama Tobio, Coming Out, Feelings Realization, Gay Kageyama Tobio, Genderfluid Yamaguchi Tadashi, Hinata Shouyou & Kageyama Tobio Friendship, Hinata Shouyou is Sunshine, Kageyama Tobio-centric, M/M, Oblivious Hinata Shouyou, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pining, Post-Canon, Volleyball Dorks & Nerds
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-27
Updated: 2019-07-13
Packaged: 2020-05-28 05:28:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,319
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19387447
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThatOneAwkwardFangirl_Liz_Cecil/pseuds/ThatOneAwkwardFangirl_Liz_Cecil
Summary: Falling in love with Hinata was something that came as naturally to Kageyama as breathing – or playing volleyball.It was just one of those things that built up over the course of their first-year, and Tobio honestly didn’t see a reason to make a huge deal of it. They were best friends, and that was good enough. He was only just realizing it, and he never was good at handling his feelings. It was better to think about him alone and act on them when he was certain.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I love KageHina so much. Let's do this

Falling in love with Hinata was something that came as naturally to Kageyama as breathing – or playing volleyball.

It was just one of those things that built up over the course of their first-year, and Tobio honestly didn’t see a reason to make a huge deal of it. They were best friends, and that was good enough. He was only just realizing it, and he never was good at handling his feelings. It was better to think about him alone and act on them when he was certain.

Playing two-on-two with the other soon-to-be second-years, Tobio felt like he had all the time in the world to figure out the right time to say something.

“Dammit!” he hissed, barely missing the receive on Yamaguchi’s pinch serve.

“Yacchan!” Hinata called. “In or out?”

The little blonde looked up from her phone. “Hm?”

“The _ball_ , Yacchan,” Hinata said, tapping his foot impatiently. “I thought you were being our ref!”

“Sorry, sorry,” she sighed. “What happened?”

“Yamaguchi served,” Tsukishima said.

“Oh. It was in,” Yachi decided, going back to her phone.

“No it wasn’t!” Kageyama argued. “You didn’t even see it!”

“Yes it was,” Yachi laughed. “Tadashi is perfect at his serves. Serve again.”

“Don’t be such a sore loser, King,” Tsukishima snarked.

“We didn’t lose! It was just one point,” Hinata argued.

“Yeah, but Yamaguchi’s serving again,” Tsukishima pointed out, tossing the ball back to him. “So…you won’t be getting a play in for quite some time.”

“Thanks, Tsukki!” Yamaguchi giggled before preparing to serve.

Tsukishima rolled his eyes, but he stayed focused on the game. Kageyama tried to prepare to receive.

He didn’t.

“Oh my _god_ ,” he groaned after the seventh missed receive. “Yamaguchi, what the fuck?”

Yamaguchi shrugged and went to serve again. “It’s not that big of a deal.”

“You could win a whole game by yourself; that’s a big deal!” Hinata countered, narrowly missing the ball. “Ack! Yacchan?”

“In,” she replied, still not looking up.

Hinata huffed and marched over to her. “Yacchan.”

“Shouyou.”

“Yac _chan_!”

She finally looked up. “Shouyou. I’m – I’m sorry! It’s just–!”

“It’s about Kiyoko, right,” Tsukishima guessed.

“College,” Yachi groaned. “I feel like I’ll never see her again.”

“You know that she’d come visit if you asked!” Yamaguchi pointed out. “Don’t stress about it!”

She shrugged. “Have you ever known me to not stress about something?”

“First time for everything,” Hinata said.

“When I’m sad, I do serves,” Kageyama said, holding out the ball to her. “It feels good to hit things.”

She laughed and shook her head. “Thank you, Kageyama-kun, but I’ll pass. I’ll just hurt myself or one of you if I try that.”

“Maybe you could skip the ball part and just hit the King,” Tsukishima snorted.

“I’d let you,” Kageyama said, turning and offering his arm.

“Haha! You’re sweet, Kags, but no thank you.”

“Alright.” He shrugged and returned to the court. “Pay attention at least. Maybe this time, Yamaguchi’s serve will be out.”

“You know it won’t be,” Tsukishima argued.

That blind fucking faith. It was almost arrogant if it wasn’t so genuine. Kageyama rolled his eyes. Who was he to judge? He had the same blind faith in Hinata’s spikes, after all.

And after another service ace, he _really_ couldn’t judge. The faith was anything but misplaced.

“I can’t believe how good Yamaguchi is, I swear!” Hinata rambled as Kageyama walked him home. “I mean, he jumps, and the ball just goes _whoosh!_ and when it gets to the other side it’s like _bam!_ , right where he wants it!”

Kageyama nodded, sipping some water. “I was there too, dumbass.”

“Yeah, I _know_.” Hinata bounced up and down. “Ugh! He’s so cool sometimes, I just don’t know how to compete!”

“Luckily, he’s usually on our team,” Kageyama pointed out.

“I know. He’s so awesome!”

“Yeah. He is.” There was no arguing with that. “You played well today.”

“Oh, what, in the _two_ spikes that I actually got in!” Hinata laughed, and it was infection. Kageyama felt his own scary grin breaking out. “You did great with your attempts at receives. There was no way we were going to win against him, though.”

“Maybe,” Kageyama agreed. “But it was fun to try.”

“But _I’m_ the only person you should be losing to,” Hinata teased, hip-checking him. “So, next time, you serve first!”

Kageyama chuckled. “This is why playing two-on-two sucks. I can’t wait until the season starts this year.”

“Ugh, but that means _school_.”

“Maybe we’ll be in the same class?”

Hinata beamed up at him and punched the air. “Yeah!”

They were in the same class, which was either great or absolutely terrible. Kageyama figured that since it was _school_ , he was going to mark it down as absolutely terrible.

“I just can’t wait until practice today!” Hinata chattered excitedly as they walked to their classroom. “Ugh! Everything until then is just the worst but then we can play with the team again and I just hate that Daichi and Suga and Asahi and Kiyoko won’t be there but it’ll be so good to see Nishinoya and Tanaka and all the other second-years again! Wait, no, they’re totally third-years now! That’s so weird! Kageyama-kun! We’re the second-years!”

“Obviously, dumbass,” Tobio replied, stepping into the classroom. “That’s how this works.”

“Well, yeah, _duh_ , Grumpyama! I’m just _saying_ , it’s so weird! I can’t believe it’s been a year since we started high school! But I also can’t believe it’s _only_ been a year because everything’s so different! Everyone’s so different! Oh my goodness, we didn’t even _know_ Yachi this time last year!”

“And now we do,” Kageyama said, not getting the significance. “Oi. Sit next to me.”

Hinata beamed at him for that demand. “Where else would I sit, stupid?!” He dropped his bag dramatically and sat on the desk Kageyama had chosen.

“Get your disgusting ass off my desk.”

Instead, Hinata wiggled and rubbed himself on the desk more. “Make me.”

So, Kageyama pushed him off the desk (the fuck did that idiot think would happen?).

“ _Gwah_! Kageyama! I can’t believe you did that!”

“You told me to make you, so I did,” he scoffed. “Get up.”

Hinata stood and brushed off his uniform, glaring at Tobio. “Ugh! You’re so mean!”

“You’re the one who rubbed your butt on my desk, weirdo!”

“I’m not a weirdo, you’re the–!”

“Gentlemen,” the teacher interrupted, “if you two are going to continue arguing, I’ll have to separate you.”

“Sorry, Sensei!” they both stammered out, bowing.

“Totally your fault,” Hinata whispered once she walked away.

“What? No way! It was _your_ fault,” Kageyama hissed back.

“Hmph!” Hinata plopped down on his chair and turned away pointedly.

_Yeah. That’ll last. I give it five… four… three… two…_

“Oh! Kageyama-kun! Doesn’t Yamaguchi-chan look totally cute today?!”

_Aaand there it is._ “She looks like herself, but a girl. Which is herself. So…I don’t know? I guess?”

“She’s so cute! _Argh_! I just wanna hug her and pinch her cute little freckled cheeks and play with her hair – it’s so pretty now that it’s longer, don’t you think?! And–”

“It’s just Yamaguchi,” Kageyama interrupted, frowning. “She’s not a different person just because she’s a girl today.”

“I _know_! Yamaguchi is still who she is, but I’ve never seen her look so cute like this before!”

Something was tightening in Kageyama’s chest, but he couldn’t quite place it. Not yet, anyhow. He just knew that it was grabbing his chest and twisting his stomach and filling him with a slowly growing fire of annoyance.

“Yamaguchi has always been cute,” Kageyama said bluntly. “You just haven’t noticed because you’re too short to see her face.”

“ _Hah_?!? You wanna _fight me_ , Bakageyama?!”

“Sit _down_ ,” he hissed. “Class is starting, dumbass!’

“Ha! Beat you again, Kageyama-kun!” Hinata cheered, jumping up. “First win of the year goes to _me_!”

Kageyama scowled. “Whatever! I’ll get you tomorrow, just you wait!”

“You two are children,” Tsukishima growled when he got out of the locker room. “Fighting over stupid shit like that, still.”

Before Kageyama could tell him to shut the fuck up, Yachi and Tadashi came from the girls’ locker room.

“Ready to meet the new members?” Hinata asked all of them.

“Yeah!” Yamaguchi replied.

“Remember when _we_ joined last year?” he sighed.

“Yeah. Suga-san kicked us out,” Kageyama said, frowning at him. It wasn’t a happy memory, exactly.

“Only because you started a fight!”

“I started a fight? _You_ started it, dumbass!” Kageyama barked.

“Did not!”

“Did so!”

Hinata grabbed at Kageyama’s shirt in response, so Kageyama did the sensible thing and threw him to the ground. Hinata kicked his legs out from under him, sending him flailing down as well.

“Dumbass!”

“Stupid!”

“Idiot!”

“Meanie!”

After a few minutes of good-natured (?) wrestling, there was an awkward cough above them. Kageyama stopped with one hand pinning Hinata’s wrist, the other pushing his face.

“Excuse me, is this the volleyball club?” the boy asked, pushing up his glasses and glancing away.

“Yep!” Hinata said cheerily. How he could stay so smiley when Kageyama had just kicked his ass was beyond him. “I’m Hinata Shouyou, and this is my setter, Kageyama Tobio!”

“Dumbass, I can introduce myself,” Kageyama scoffed before pushing off of him. “Are you a first year?”

The boy nodded before bowing. “I admire you greatly, Kageyama-senpai! I played setter in junior high, and I am hoping to learn from you.”

Kageyama stared blankly for a moment. That was the first time he’d ever been called “senpai”.

Hinata rose to his feet and jabbed Kageyama in the ribs. “Kageyama is the best setter in Japan! You’ll learn a lot from him! What’s your name?”

“Aoki Ryouta.” Aoki looked up through his bangs, practically shaking with nerves. “I saw you play at Nationals. You two are amazing.”

Hinata beamed with pride while Kageyama flushed with embarrassment.

“Well, Aoki-kun, next time we go to Nationals, you’ll be there with us!” Hinata declared.

“Th-thank you, Hinata-san!” Aoki bowed harder.

“Well, I am your senpai, now! Go on, call me senpai!”

“Who are you, _Tanaka-san_?” Kageyama snorted.

“Hinata-senpai!” Aoki corrected anyhow, and Hinata smiled wider.

“Come on! Your senpais will take you inside the gym, now!”

“You can just call me Kageyama,” Kageyama muttered as they walked. “I think formalities are stupid.”

Aoki’s eyes widened. “You – you can call me Ryouta if you wanted!”

Hinata hid a laugh behind his hand, and Kageyama wondered if it definitely pushed boundaries to call a stranger by his given name.

“Ah – alright.”

“I already have homework,” Hinata complained. “What happened?”

“Second year. Things are different,” Yachi told him.

“Wanna work on it together?” he asked.

“Yeah, sure!”

“We could all hang out somewhere, if you wanted,” he offered.

“I’d rather eat a rock,” Tsukishima said.

“We’d love to,” Yamaguchi interrupted.

Kageyama snorted. After a year of knowing those two, it was _very clear_ that while Tsukishima put on his shitty front, Yamaguchi was the one calling the shots for them. If she said anything, Tsukishima would melt and go along with it. Everyone knew it, too.

As they walked, they started talking about the first-years.

“How about that new setter?” Hinata said. “Aoki-kun has such a cool setup, don’t you think, Tobio?”

Kageyama huffed. “He’s good, yeah. Could use some discipline, but I think he’ll probably end up being a regular.”

“What about Yoshioka-kun?” Yachi mentioned to Tsukishima, bumping into him. “Isn’t he fun?”

“Tch.”

“He admires you, Tsukki!” Yamaguchi said. “That’s so cool!”

“Well, whatever!”

“You’ll teach him to block, won’t you?” Yachi asked. “You have to admit, what you did at Finals last year was _pretty cool_.”

He shook his head. “I only did it once-”

“Stop! We’ve been over this,” Tadashi sighed. “You were really cool, and if you call yourself lame, I will have to hit you.”

“Shut up, Yamaguchi!”

“It’s true, Tsukki!” she insisted. “You were so cool!”

“ _So_ cool!” Yachi agreed.

“How many pretty girls have to say it before you believe it?” Hinata cried.

“Shut _up_!”

“You- you really think I’m a pretty girl?” Tadashi asked.

“So pretty!” Hinata gasped. “Look at you! You’re just so! And! Ooh! Wah!”

She laughed. “Thanks, Shouyou.”

Something in Kageyama’s chest twisted, and it was an oddly familiar feeling.

Tsukishima put his arm back around her. “Weren’t we going to find somewhere to do homework or something?”

“Yeah,” Yachi remembered before pointing to a nearby park. “What about there?”

“It’s kind of cold for that,” Kageyama pointed out. “What about that café over there?”

“Oh, yeah, that works.”

“How am I supposed to remember this?” Hinata complained, glaring at his homework.

“Here, Shou-kun, show it to me,” Yamaguchi said, moving to his side of the table.

Kageyama gritted his teeth and tried to focus on his homework. If he could focus, he wouldn’t have to think about how Hinata thought Yamaguchi was pretty and cute and amazing and probably better than him.

“I just can’t _do it_!”

“Well, here’s where you made the mistake – it’s okay, I do this all the time too. Want me to explain it to you, or do you think you’ve got it?” she asked.

“Explain it, _please_!”

His grip tightened on his pencil and he stared harder.

“Do you need help, Tobio-kun?” Yachi asked, looking at Kageyama glaring at his paper.

“No.”

“Okay. Then, do you need to talk about something?”

“No!” he snapped, hoping to god he imagined the smirk shot at him from Tsukishima.

“Okay, okay.” She patted his hand, gave a comforting squeeze, then returned to her own homework.

When Kageyama got home, he did the only thing he could think of. He called his senpai.

_“Hey, Tobio!”_

All the building stress melted in an instant at Suga’s cheery voice. That man really was the Karasuno mother.

“Hi, Suga-san,” he replied, chewing his lip.

_“Hey, kiddo. How was your first day of school? Do you like your teachers? Are your classmates nice? How are the new first-years doing with the team? Is there another setter? Is he cool? How’s Shouyou? Is Ennoshita doing well as a captain? Is Tanaka being responsible? How’s Yachi holding up as the solo manager? Is Tsukishima being nice to the new first years? How is Yamaguchi doing since she came out? Did you eat enough for dinner? Are you drinking enough water? Have you grown since I last–?”_

_“Holy shit, Suga,”_ interrupted Daichi’s voice. _“You’re going to overwhelm the poor kid.”_

“School was good, teacher’s are fine, classmates are whatever, first-years’ are fine, new setter’s fine, Hinata’s fine, Ennoshita’s doing fine, Tanaka’s–”

_“Let me guess: fine?”_ Suga interrupted teasingly. _“Sorry, kiddo. Why don’t you tell me what’s up?”_

He wrung his hands. “I have…a situation.”

_“Is everything alright?”_ Suga asked, suddenly serious.

“Yeah…but I think…I have a very big crush on Hinata,” he admitted, heat rushing to his face. _How embarrassing._ “But he kept fawning over Yamaguchi today, so I…”

_“You felt?”_ Suga prompted.

“Bad,” Tobio settled. “But if he likes Yamaguchi, I don’t want to feel bad. I want to be a good friend. How do you…do that, when you like someone?”

Suga gave a longsuffering sigh. _“Sometimes, you just have to…accept your feelings, and then move past them, I guess. Be there for him. If it’s not meant to be, the feelings will pass, okay?”_

Kageyama nodded before remembering Suga couldn’t see him. “Yeah. Okay. Thank you, Suga-san.”

_“No problem! Now, tell me everything about your day! I miss you all so much already…”_


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> kinda a short update, hope you like it anyways! I got some more Aoki content in there for ya since you guys seemed to like the babie so much

Kageyama hadn’t had many crushes in his sixteen years of life, but he had yet to have one that didn’t completely suck.

He wasn’t good at identifying or expressing his feelings, so he often stayed silent, or tried to show things in actions instead of words. It never worked out, because no one else seemed to understand the actions. Hinata was different. He spiked with his eyes closed and he always seemed to know what Kageyama was feeling and no matter how much they fought, they were best friends.

(Kageyama wasn’t going to ruin his first ever best-friendship.)

He picked up a ball to continue his jump serve practice. He’d arrived early to help teach Aoki learn some of Karasuno’s signature setups, but the first-year seemed to be running late. He tried not to be annoyed, because he knew the kid was eager to learn.

“ _Whoa_! Senpai, so cool!”

Kageyama glanced to the door, where Aoki was walking in. “It’s just my jump serve.”

“It’s so good! Can you teach me!”

Kageyama huffed a laugh. “Do you want to be a setter, or do you want to be a pinch server?”

“Well, to be fair, with you on the court, there’s no way I’ll play setter,” Aoki muttered, averting his eyes with bright red cheeks.

“What if I get injured? Or sick?” Kageyama said, lightly chopping him on the head. “What if you’re better than me? Don’t let me win, _boke_.”

Aoki’s eyes widened. “R-right!”

“Get warmed up, and I’ll show you some of my favorite practice sets.”

“Right!”

While Aoki warmed up, Kageyama sipped his water. He was unsurprised to hear the gym doors open again, Hinata trudging in.

“Jeez, Bakageyama, why’re you so early today! It’s not fair that you left earlier.”

“I’m teaching Aoki-kun, dumbass. I wasn’t trying to beat you,” Kageyama scoffed.

“ _Aww_ , you’re such a good senpai!” Hinata cooed, reaching up on his tip toes to pinch Kageyama’s cheeks.

“Tch, stop that!” Kageyama swatted his hands away. “Aoki-kun! Are you ready?”

“Yes! Oh, Hinata-senpai!” Aoki jumped up in excitement. “Am I tossing to you?!”

“I don’t see why not!” Hinata said, punching the air with enthusiasm. “Show me what you’ve got, Ao-chan!”

Kageyama bit his tongue and watched the pair run out to the court. Seeing how Aoki paired with Hinata – who would hit any set no matter what, like a damn golden retriever after a frisbee – would be a good gauge of his setting capabilities.

He tossed a ball in, watching Aoki find Hinata’s position on the court before tossing right to him. Hinata hit it, but of course he did. Too easy, and completely useless in a real match.

“Don’t toss directly to him, Aoki-kun!” Kageyama barked. “He likes his tosses high, fast, and unpredictable. Again!”

“Aww, Kags, you memorized my toss type, how sweet!” Hinata teased, batting his eyelashes.

“Before me, you didn’t even _have_ a toss type!”

“I guess that makes _you_ my type, huh?”

Kageyama glowered at him, and Hinata’s face paled.

“Sorry, sorry, sorry! I’m just teasing! Sorry!”

Kageyama squeezed down on Hinata’s head. “Dumbass!”

“Uh, I don’t mean to be rude, but…” Aoki bit his lip.

“Spit it out!” Kageyama barked.

“How long have you two been dating?”

“ _Hah_?!”

“I didn’t mean it in a bad way!” Aoki quickly explained. “I’m gay too!”

“Who told you I was gay?” Kageyama demanded, which, in hindsight, was probably not the thing to be clarifying right then.

Hinata promptly started choking on air.

“Dumbass, don’t die,” Kageyama grunted, handing him a water bottle. “We’re not – we’re _not_ dating.”

“Oh! I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to assume!”

“I wouldn’t worry about it,” a new voice scoffed. “Everyone thinks it.”

“You wanna fight, Tsukishima-kun?” Hinata demanded, squaring up.

“It’s not like you have any place to talk, Tsukki,” Yamaguchi pointed out. “People have thought we were together since middle school, right?” He smiled, bright and innocent, and Kageyama was reminded why he liked Yamaguchi so much: no one put Tsukishima in his place like he did.

“Tch. Shut up, Yamaguchi.”

“Sorry, Tsukki!”

As more of the team filed in, Hinata pulled Kageyama down by his elbow. “You never told me you were gay, Kageyama! I would’ve come to you when I started…questioning, if I’d known! You are my best friend, after all!”

There was so much information to process in such a short span of time that Kageyama’s brain completely short-circuited, and he just stared at Hinata blankly.

“Not – not that you were required to tell me! Obviously! It’s your choice! I’m sorry that you only kinda came out by accident!”

“Would you shut the fuck up?” Kageyama sighed. “I’m gay. Or whatever. Go warm up. We can talk later, uh, if you need.”

Just like that, the smile returned to Hinata’s face. “Thank you, Kageyama-kun!”

**Pretty Setter Squad**

**Oikawa:** I forgot this chat still exists

**Semi:** we were all hoping youd never remember

**Oikawa:** ugh but I’m boooored

**Suga:** not our problem

**Kageyama:** senpai, are you busy or can I talk to you

**Oikawa:** always too busy

**Kageyama:** I meant Suga-senpai

**Suga:** :P

**Oikawa:** well.

**Suga:** always have time for you, kiddo!

Not thirty seconds later, Kageyama’s phone rang.

“Suga-senpai?”

_“Hey, Kageyama! What’s going on?”_

“I sort of…came out, by accident.”

There was a pause, and then, in a serious voice, Suga asked, _“Is everything okay? No one said anything bad, did they, because I’ll–”_

“No, Suga-san,” he interrupted. “It was okay. I guess. But I didn’t even mean to.” He ran a hand through his hair, pulling at it in frustration. “And it’s just out there, because I slipped.”

_“You feel out of control?”_ Suga guessed.

“Yeah,” Kageyama agreed. “And someone wants to talk to me, because they’re trying to figure themself out and want my advice.”

_“Well…what will you do?”_

“Talk to them. I wish I had someone to talk to.”

Suga hummed. _“So, what do you need?”_

“I don’t know how to talk to them.”

_“I think they maybe want you to listen more than anything,”_ Suga said, _“and they may ask about your personal experience. That’s usually how these things go.”_

Kageyama nodded – that made sense. “Thank you, Suga-san.”

Hinata sat on the backrest of the park bench, knees shaking when Kageyama sat beside him.

“Dumbass, calm down,” Kageyama sighed, putting a hand on his knee so he’d stop. “We’re best friends, aren’t we? You can come to me with these things.”

Hinata nodded, gnawing on his lip.

“I – uh – I know you have anxiety. It’s okay. Take your time.” Kageyama tried to offer a smile before remembering his smile was rarely comforting rather than scary.

Luckily, Hinata already knew that, so he just snorted and turned away. “It would be easier if you didn’t have such a scary face, Kageyama-kun!”

Kageyama raised his hand to Hinata’s chest to push him off the bench.

“Ah! I’m sorry!” Hinata yelped, holding on tight so he didn’t fall.

Kageyama huffed a laugh and leaned back. Suddenly, Hinata’s face was right in front of him.

“You know, you don’t really laugh that much,” Hinata noted, tilting his head. “I’m always happy when you do! Like you’re comfortable around me.”

Kageyama felt his cheeks heat up. “How do you do that? Just say what you’re thinking and feeling? You’re so embarrassing.”

Hinata snorted and slid down onto the actual bench. “I like girls and guys.”

Kageyama nodded.

“Except, I don’t know what to make of it yet,” Hinata continued, slumping in on himself. “I just know that much is true.”

Kageyama knocked their shoulders together.

“How was it for you? Figuring yourself out?” Hinata asked, sitting back up.

“Hmm.” Kageyama thought back to middle school. “I had a crush on Iwaizumi-senpai in my first-year of junior high.”

Hinata pinched his lips together to stifle a laugh. “You – _Seijoh’s ace_?!”

“Shut up,” Kageyama huffed, pushing Hinata’s head. “He was nice to me, and have you _seen him_?”

Hinata’s face quickly pinkened. “Okay, yes…”

“Anyways, I don’t know. I don’t really think of girls like that. I just don’t think I ever would, either,” Kageyama said, scuffing the toe of his shoe on the pavement.

“And you just know?”

“I just know,” Kageyama agreed. “But…” He frowned, trying to think of how to phrase it.

“But?”

“If someone I was already in love with started to identify as a girl, I think that maybe, that would be different.”

Hinata nodded, solemn, then smirked. “Kageyama-kun, are you in love with Yamaguchi-kun?”

“Of course I’m not, Hinata-boke!” Kageyama barked, squeezing down on Hinata’s head.

Hinata laughed and pushed Kageyama’s hand off his head. “I get what you’re saying. I just kinda realized…I know some very attractive guys, and I think I really like at least one of them.”

“Who?” Kageyama asked before he could think about why he didn’t want to know.

Hinata pulled out his phone. “Well, I’m not _totally_ sure right now, but I’m narrowing it down… Right now, I’m thinking it’s between Noya-san, Bokuto-san, Kenma, and maybe a few others but I don’t wanna talk about those ones…”

Kageyama stifled a snort. “You have a list?”

“I’m on a journey of self-discovery, Bakageyama! You can’t shame me for that!”

Kageyama fell into his laughter while Hinata continued to yell and punch at his chest.

“You’re such a jerk! I’m just trying to figure this stupid thing out! I wish labels weren’t so confusing! I just wanna like who I like!”

“You can,” Kageyama told him, taking a deep breath to stop his laughter. He held Hinata’s wrists to stop the assault. “You’ll figure it out. It’s not as big of a deal as you feel like it is at the beginning. It just…is.”

“It just is?” Hinata repeated.

Kageyama nodded. “Label or no or whatever, it just is.”

“Wow, Kageyama-kun, you almost sounded smart just then,” Hinata teased.

“Hah? What was that? Get back here, you shrimpy bastard!”

Hinata shrieked and ducked behind a tree. “You’ll never take me alive!”

Kageyama growled and grabbed for him, not totally disappointed to have missed. He wasn’t sure if he felt hope or misery right then; it was a lot of information to process. But right then…

Right then, he just had an important conversation with his best friend, and they were still them, so maybe, right then, everything was okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> phrasing might've been weird in that last section but I'm a lil tipsy so I'll edit later
> 
> Follow me on [Twitter](https://www.twitter.com/awkwardfangirl6) and scream with me about Haikyuu!! and other shit

**Author's Note:**

> If you want to know when this or my other fics are going to be updated, here's my [July updating schedule](https://docs.google.com/document/d/17YybrlDWgymcxNa75n3d6kOjDeqG9W01OfZ216Qvv4A/edit?usp=sharing)
> 
> Follow me on [Twitter](https://www.twitter.com/lovingyachi) and scream with me about Haikyuu!! and other shit


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